I. Communication Challenge
The Mentholatum Company (TMC) is a global health and wellness company providing non-prescription pharmaceutical, healthcare and cosmetic products to consumers. In 2010, TMC engaged Travers Collins (TC) to handle the public relations launch of OXY Clinical, a new, prescription-strength acne medication available e over the counter.
In the already crowded skin care and beauty market, introducing a new product is a huge challenge. Additionally, TMC was marketing OXY Clinical to a new gender group; where OXY had historically been geared toward young males, the OXY Clinical campaign targeted female teenagers.
II. Strategy and Execution
While social media would be our main vehicle, we could not overlook the role traditional media would play. To introduce the product, pitch stories and provide editorial materials, we staged a luncheon at a trendy new restaurant in New York City, to which we invited editors from major beauty and health magazines. Our teen and mom spokespeople and our dermatologist, Dr. Erin Welch, were featured presenters.
We gave the same level of attention to bloggers when we held a “Fresh Face for Facebook” event in New York City. TC invited 20 influential New York City “mommy bloggers” to a cocktail reception at an upscale restaurant. We arranged for a professional make-up artist and photographer to be at the event to provide new head shots for the bloggers. They also received a gift bag including product samples, other promotional items and the OXY Clinical press kit.
We also conducted a national Satellite Media Tour that featured Dr. Welch, entitled “OXY Back-to-School Boot Camp with Dr. Erin Welch.” We pitched the video and a live interview with Dr. Welch to television, radio and web producers.
Our campaign also included:
- An OXY Clinical YouTube channel featuring educational videos and commercials from all OXY brands, past and present
- An OXY Clinical Twitter account to host giveaways and share information
- Partnering with a mom bloggers group to host a blog tour about OXY Clinical
III. Outcome
- Coverage included Seventeen Magazine, Teen Vogue, Drugstore News, PR News, Marie Claire, Consumer Reports, Lucky and Drug Topics Magazine
- The Satellite Media Tour resulted in 22 interviews, reaching more than 1.6 million people
- The blog tour garnered 42 reviews, all of which were incredibly positive, as well as up to 625,000 impressions
- More than 2,000 video views on the OXY YouTube channel
- More than 240 Twitter followers in two months
- At least 124,574 impressions gained directly from the happy hour event
- In total, our media coverage reached over 9 million people
